Angels are aiming to turn data into W's

April 3, 2014

Updated April 5, 2014 9:57 a.m.

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Rick Eckstein, left, and Nick Francona are, respectively, the Angels' major league player information coach and coordinator of major league information. Both newly created positions are designed to help players make the best of use of all the information available these days. KEVIN SULLIVAN, STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Rick Eckstein, left, and Nick Francona are, respectively, the Angels' major league player information coach and coordinator of major league information. Both newly created positions are designed to help players make the best of use of all the information available these days. KEVIN SULLIVAN, STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

ANAHEIM – To illustrate just where baseball has come in 2014, look no further than the job titles of two men with newly created positions in the Angels clubhouse.

Rick Eckstein, major league player information coach.

Nick Francona, coordinator of major league information.

Both owe their jobs to General Manager Jerry Dipoto’s plan to capitalize on the current information boom in a way he hopes can be translated to victories.

Information on tendencies of players has been available in increasing volume for years. What the Angels are doing is adding personnel to help convert that information to something useful for coaches and players.

“With the advances that have been made in technology and the information we have access to, we are paying to make sure we have cutting-edge information,” Dipoto said. “Now we have to provide it in a premium, cutting-edge way, and that’s what we’re doing. Taking the next step.”

The differences are already apparent to the players, in the form of meetings that are more detailed and involve a few more people. All players now have access to subscription-based software that provides stats and video on their iPads.

The increased use of data is manifesting itself in the way the Angels position themselves defensively. The Angels plan to make more frequent, more drastic defensive shifts.

“It’s going to be a lot more shifting,” outfielder Kole Calhoun said. “We’ll see how it goes. … Obviously there is a bunch of information we can use to our advantage, and the plan is to use it this year.”

Dipoto said he’s wanted to make better use of the statistical information available since he took over as general manager in 2011.

“We took two small steps in 2012 and 2013,” Dipoto said, “and we’re now ready to take the big one.”

The big step, however, is not necessarily dumping reams of additional information on the players. In many cases, the players might get less. The difference is how the information gets to them.

In the past, the Angels’ front office generated advance scouting material that would be delivered to the clubhouse, left up to the coaching staff to interpret and relay to the players.

“Now we have two people (in the clubhouse) whose job is to make sure this information is accurate and digested and that everyone is connected to it,” Dipoto said.

Eckstein and Francona act every day as liaisons between the clubhouse and the front office number-crunchers. They came to their new jobs from vastly different backgrounds, which is the idea.

Eckstein, 41, is the older brother of former Angels shortstop David Eckstein. The elder Eckstein coached in college and the minors, eventually becoming a major league hitting coach with the Washington Nationals. He interviewed for the Angels third-base coach job, which went to Gary DiSarcina. Dipoto and Manager Mike Scioscia then approached Eckstein with the idea for this hybrid position.

“I took a step back and thought about it,” Eckstein said, “and it sounded pretty interesting.”

Francona, 28, is the son of longtime major league manager Terry Francona. He has a business degree from the University of Pennsylvania and he served in combat in Afghanistan as the commander of a Marine sniper unit.

While the most intriguing part of Francona’s job is watching replays during the game to let Scioscia know if a play should be challenged, the bulk of his work is helping to create strategies before the game. Francona works closely with Jeremy Zoll and Jonathan Strangio, who watch video and sift through numbers from team offices. They generate a packet of info the Angels use to construct a game plan for each opponent.

Francona and Eckstein then work directly with Angels coaches and players to put it all into action. That means figuring out what is useful and what isn’t, and tailoring that to each coach and each player.

“When we redesigned the process, one of the key priorities was not to have a lot of irrelevant information,” Francona said. “Our theory is if we are giving the coaches and players tons of information, it doesn’t matter how much good stuff there is because you won’t be able to process it.”

Eckstein’s advantage is his background being on the field, which helps him put the data into what Dipoto calls “baseball-ese.”

“I definitely use a lot of the lessons I learned as a player and a coach in how I teach and talk,” Eckstein said. “It’s very important. The locker room is a unique place. It can be very finicky. You have to know how to work within those confines.”

Before the Angels opened their season Monday, players had three meetings with coaches, Eckstein included in all three. In one, the pitchers and catchers went over written profiles of all the Seattle Mariners hitters. In another meeting, Angels hitters went over each of the Seattle pitchers, including the relievers.

Between the pitchers and hitters meetings was a new meeting to discuss the defensive alignment for each hitter.

Defensive shifts are nothing new, but they have become more common and more extreme in recent years. The World Series-winning Boston Red Sox and the Pittsburgh Pirates, who ended a 21-year playoff drought last year, both took defensive shifts to a new level last year, Dipoto said. Now, the Angels are jumping on board, too.

“The point of a shift is putting pressure on the hitter to make him change his approach,” catcher Hank Conger said. “If you have a guy that is constantly pulling and he tries to go oppo, you’re already winning the battle.”

Beyond the game-planning information the Angels are presenting to the players in meetings, they are giving them access to an iPad app that allows them endless searches for whatever they need.

“If you want to see how you handle sliders on the outer third and down, you can call that up,” Dipoto said. “Then you can click on one of them and see it.”

C.J. Wilson, who had already subscribed to the service that the Angels have now made available to everyone, said he likes the organization’s direction.

“More (information) is getting to the players,” Wilson said. “I feel like the more information I have, the better it is.”

Other players, such as Howie Kendrick, say they don’t want to be burdened with too much data, and that’s OK with Dipoto and Scioscia.

“Every player will have a different style and we’re trying to adapt to each player,” Dipoto said. “That’s important to Mike. Let the player be a player and not make him a machine. We have the technology to let the player search what he wants, when he wants.”

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